Military Sketches. By Sir C. F. Lascelles Wraicall, Bart (W.
lit. Allen and Co.)—Sir Lascelles offers this rather miscellaneous volume 'of revised contributions to "various periodicals" as a supplement to a former work on The Armies of Europe. It consists of a careful historical account of the French army from Francis I. down to the present time, four entertaining papers on the Italian war, the Austrian army, the French and the British soldier, some biographical sketches of French Marshals, and a paper on the chances of invasion. The author by no means shares the favourable opinion which is commonly entertained of the Austrian army. He thinks that the last war has greatly weakened its esprit de corps, and that it is underpaid, over-drilled, and the officers
ill educated, simply because it is governed by an aristocratic clique, which regards the drill-ground as the sole test of military value. The Emperor, too, is always making changes in the organization of the army, which seldom endure for more than a year or two. Still, great as is the author's admiration for the French soldier, he attributes the success of the French army in Italy mainly to the superiority of its commissariat and transport system and of its artillery, and in any future contest this last advantage will be gone. We have not space, however, to enter into the subject-matter of the work, but we rejoice to see that the condition -of our own army is stated to be on the whole as good as that even of the French. Without writing an elegant or forcible style, the author arranges his matter well and says what he has to say clearly, and all
readers interested in these subjects will find his book an instructive and amusing one. In the lives of Canrobert and Niel, and even of Pelissier, there is, however, a carping tone which sometimes degenerates into a *neer, and is not pleasant.
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